How To Get Very
Good at Playing Charades
Course offered by Misha
Glouberman
Course Overview
Most people have
played charades at some point in their lives. But few have put much effort or
consideration into getting very good at it. This course provides instruction in
how to get better at playing charades.
Methods of skill development will include:
- Playing charades itself, with different rules and variations
- Playing other games selected to improve charades-related skills, including
restricted-communication games like Pictionary and Taboo
- Drills and exercises designed to improve charades skills
- Examining and discussing charades-playing strategies
It should be
noted that this is a practical class, and not a class in charades theory. Class
time will mainly be spent playing games and focusing on improved play. While
other games will be played, they will be included only to sharpen particular
charades skills.
The course may end with a tournament.
Themes and issues examined in the course
Some questions, approaches, and techniques to be examined in the course:
- Keeping from talking
- Shared and nonshared cultural references
- What constitutes "better" charades-playing? Are speed and accuracy
sufficient, or is craft/quality important too?
- Physical communication skills: Using the face and the body to communicate
("acting")
- Learning to see things from the other person's perspective
- Strategies for suggesting titles, strategies for passing
- Large concepts versus part-by-part communication
- Emotion in communication: What to do when your partner frustrates you
- Is fun important?
- Development of specific vocabularies of gestures (codes, signals)
- Partner selection
- Effects of competition on effectiveness and enjoyment
- Degrees of intention and literalness in communication
About the instructor
Misha Glouberman
has been teaching improv theatre classes for a long time, starting with Theatre
Schmeatre in Montreal, and the Immediate Gratification Players at Harvard
University. He is increasingly interested in the idea of these classes as a form
of participatory entertainment for non-performers. He has taught actors,
professionals, and academics, as well as groups of anarchist squatters, deaf
children, and bad teenagers. In 2001, he hosted a series of complicated parlour
games parties, which no one else understood to be an art project. More recently,
he has run workshops in improvised vocal noise music for
nonmusicians. He also hosts the Trampoline Hall Lecture Series at the Cameron
House in Toronto and in New York City. He is very good at
charades, especially the guessing part.
Further information
For
more information about the course, or to register,
email the instructor at charades@Glouberman.com.
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